Alligator snapping turtle found far from home in English pond, is promptly named Fluffy

An alligator snapping turtle that looks like something out of "Jurassic Park" has been found 5,000 miles away from its natural habitat in the U.S. South.

A dogwalker spotted the turtle last week in a northwestern English pond called Urswick Tarn, located in a village called Great Urswick. The dogwalker posted a picture of the ancient-looking creature to a local Facebook group, hoping someone might be able to identify it.

Other members of the group called on a local parish councillor who had raised tortoises and previously lived in Florida, Dominic Moule, a veterinarian surgeon at Wild Side Vets, told USA TODAY on Tuesday.

The councillor, Denise Chamberlain, told the BBC that she knew exactly what the creature was as soon as she saw it. 

She decided to take the turtle out of the water, using three pairs of gloves and a shopping basket to scoop him up. This despite the fact that the creature has a bite force of 1,000 pounds, "which can easily snap through bone," according to the National Wildlife Federation.

“I was anxious on two levels," Chamberlain said. "One was actually catching it without losing a finger, but also, what was I going to do with it?”

Turtle gets a new strangely appropriate name

Since Chamberlain and some helpers were able to recover the turtle from the pond, it has been in the care of Wild Side Vets, a veterinary practice about 300 miles north of London.

Every sweet little thing deserves a sweet name, Moule reasoned, when the turtle was first brought in. 

"It looks a little bit strange, unique even," he said. "I think it looks quite prehistoric, almost like a living dinosaur."

But Moule and a fellow colleague, who are both into “the sort of weird and the wonderful of the animal world,” thought the turtle was “fairly cute in a kind of strange way.” 

So, even though it looks a little scary, they named it Fluffy. The hope was to eliminate any fears people may have upon seeing the turtle.

“It's not doing any harm. It's not horrible," he said. "It's just a little turtle that is somewhere where it shouldn't be."

Fluffy is also the name of a vicious, three-headed dog depicted in "Harry Potter."

"As someone on Facebook said, it certainly looks like a creature Hagrid would love,” Chamberlain told The Guardian.

How did Fluffy get so far from home? 

It's unclear how Fluffy how could have ended up so far from home, but Moule suspects that it was bred and raised in captivity before it was dumped in the pond. 

“I suspect somebody has bought it and not realized what it is, it has got too big for them to look after or they cannot afford to feed it," Chamberlain told the BBC. 

The alligator snapping turtle is not considered an invasive species in the U.K. because it hasn't had a chance to establish itself in the environment, Moule said.

But re-releasing the turtle into the wild isn't an option since the alligator snapping turtle since it's not native to the area, he said.

Though they are not considered an endangered species in the U.S., the number of alligator snapping turtles is declining due to "habitat degradation and overharvesting for their meat," according to the National Wildlife Fund.

Moule also found out that Fluffy may have only come up to the surface recently, burying itself in silt and mud during the winter months. Fluffy was actually “quite lethargic” when he was brought in because the temperature of the water the turtle was found in is not “ideal” for the turtle. 

“It wasn't really moving much when it was brought into us, but it did have its mouth wide open," Moule said.

Fluffy maintained a “very defensive” stance when it first came in but adjusted to its new living environment without too many complications, regulating its metabolism slowly.

What will happen to Fluffy? 

Wild Side Vets has found a new home for Fluffy, who will spend the rest of his days with a specialist wildlife company in the south of England. The company is set to pick up Fluffy on Wednesday. 

“They will be rehabbing the turtle and continuing with treatment,” Moule said. "It will probably live out the rest of its life with them because it can’t be released anywhere and it's not viable to fly it all the way back to America."

In light of the recent media storm Fluffy has inadvertently caused with his unusual looks, Moule wants to take a moment to remind people that “exotic pets or unusual creatures require a lot of care and shouldn’t be dumped.” 

“They should obviously be given the best chance that they can," he said. "All animals, regardless of what they look like, should receive good care and be able to live happy and healthy lives.”